This first comprehensive report on resource efficiency in Asia Pacific entitled Resource Efficiency: Economics and Outlook for Asia and the Pacific, focuses on the demand for and use of natural resources both as drivers and as consequences of economic activity and social development. It provides a rich pool of data and analysis for natural resource use including materials, energy, water and land, and reviews policy initiatives in Asia and the Pacific which address resource efficiency. It also highlights ways to achieve sustainable resource use and greater resource efficiency through well-designed policy options, backed by better data.

This report, a joint effort of UNEP and its regional partners, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, quantifies environmental pressures through deeper analysis of resource use patterns and resource efficiency, drivers of resource use, greenhouse gas emissions and resource efficiency policy in China. It finds that China’s rapidly improving standard of living has come with a greatly increased per capita demand for natural resources, and a corresponding increase in environmental pressures associated with extracting, processing, and using these natural resources.

Recent Trends in Material Flows and Resource Productivity an Asia and the Pacific

This report presents an update of a previous report on material flows and resource productivity in Asia and the Pacific (UNEP 2011). It extends the data to the latest reported year up to 2008 and the onset of the global financial crisis. The update shows that rapid growth in materials consumption by the Asia‑Pacific region’s population giants continues apace, and as a consequence the region’s dominance of world material flows continues to grow.

Country Profiles of Resource Use and Productivity

The following link provides resource use and productivity profiles of Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam.